A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 02 eBook

In 1417, in the reign of John II. of Castile, and
while his mother the lady Catharine was regent of
the kingdom, Ruben de Bracamonte, the admiral of France,
craved a grant of the Canary Islands, and the title
of king, for his kinsman John de Betancourt; which
being conceded, he departed from Seville with an armament
to attempt the conquest. The principal motive
of this enterprize was to make a perfect discovery
of Madeira, of which Macham had before given so much
information; yet he went to the Canaries, where he
carried a friar named Mendo as bishop, who had received
that dignity from Pope Martin V. He reduced Lancerota,
Fuerteventura, Gomera, and Ferro; whence he sent into
Spain many slaves, and considerable quantities of
honey, wax, camphire, hides, orchill, figs, dragons-blood,
and other merchandize, of which he made good profit.
This armament is said to have likewise discovered
Porto Santo. The island first occupied by Betancourt
was Lancerota, where he built a castle of stone for
the better defence of the new settlers.

In the year 1418, John Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram
Vaz Teixera, gentlemen of the household to Don Henry,
perceiving the great desire of their master to discover
new countries, requested and obtained a bark to proceed
to the coast of Africa; where they were overtaken by
a violent tempest, and driven into a haven of the
island now called Porto Santo, where they remained
two years. In 1420, they discovered the island
of Madeira, where they found the chapel, tomb, and
stone on which Macham had engraved his name.
Others write, that a Castilian had informed Don Henry
of having made the discovery of Porto Santo; and that
he sent Bartholomew Perestrello, John Gonzales Zarco,
and Tristram Vaz Teixera, purposely in search of that
island, according to the signs and directions indicated
by the Castilian; and that these persons afterwards
discovered Madeira in 1420, where they found the memorial
and monument left by Macham the Englishman.

Betancourt, who begun the conquest of the Canaries,
was slain in a war with the natives, leaving one Menante
his heir; who afterwards sold the islands to one Peter
Barba of Seville. But others say, that John de
Betancourt went to France to procure reinforcements,
to enable him to complete his conquests, and left
the command of Lancerota with his nephew; who, hearing
nothing of his uncle, and being unable to continue
the contest with the natives, sold the Canaries to
Don Henry, for an estate in the island of Madeira.

It is related that, in 1424, Don Henry sent a squadron
with some land forces, under Don Ferdinando de Castro,
on purpose to make a conquest of these islands; but,
being repulsed by the bravery of the natives, de Castro
prudently desisted from the enterprize and returned
home; and that Don Henry afterwards resigned his claim
to these islands in favour of the crown of Castile.
The Castilian writers, however, assert that both Don
Henry and the king of Portugal refused to give up these